Inevitable
by kit-scagliotti
Summary: He really should have seen it coming. It was only logical that he would fall for her, even if he didn't see it coming. He should have listened to Hyorinmaru. He could not have predicted that she felt the same way too.
1. Chapter 1

**Well this happens to be one of my favourite pairings. I know that they aren't strictly canon, ok aren't canon at all… But they are awesome!**

**C'mon Kubo Tite make this happen!**

He should have seen it coming. He should have considered the possibility that it was possible, when he first met her. Though he was not one for sitting down and considering his feelings, he should have listened to Hyorinmaru.

But he had dismissed what his zanpaktou had said with a snort of disdain. That sort of thing would never happen to him and yet here he stood with that exact problem. Histugaya Toshiro was in love.

It had snuck up on him, he hadn't really been paying attention to the unfamiliar feeling in his chest and had attributed the rush of nerves to assimilating to someone with as high a spiritual pressure as his.

The only problem he was facing now, was why her? Of all the girls in the world why did he have to fall for her? It held no benefit for either of them and frankly speaking, he was sure it was against the laws of Sereitei.

He had only started watching her to observe her, to see how she coped with such a high reiatsu. But at some point it had become watching just to see her. Though he had never admitted this to himself, he could spend hours watching her. He was in his unknowing bliss until recently, he supposed he could have continued to watch her while unaware of his feelings and been perfectly content.

It was only until he saw her with him, did his feelings become apparent. It had taken every fibre of his strength to not rush in and intervene. He had been making her laugh and he had placed his hand on her shoulder. He watched in, what he only later identified as horror, as she blushed up at him. Toshiro never thought he would hate someone with such passion without actually having him do anything to him.

He slumped forward on his desk, willing away the memories of her being walked home by him. His hands clutching into fists as he sees them laughing together. He stands up abruptly; he'll have to finish his paperwork later. He walks to the training field, going through simple forms before releasing all his anger in complicated thrusts and parries. It's almost two hours later before he gives himself chance to breathe, chest rising and falling as the air burns into his lungs.

Sitting down on the floor Toshiro places Hyorinmaru. He feels the cold before he can see it. The icy air soothing against his burning skin. The blackness clears to reveal the ice blue dragon that is bonded to his very soul.

"Hyorinmaru." He still bows slightly.

"Toshiro." He replies, his voice echoing away into the icy landscape around them.

"I need your advice."

"It's about her, isn't it?" It's more of a statement than a question, but Toshiro nods anyway.

"What do I do?" He asks. If he had control, he would never have fallen in love.

Hyorinmaru pauses, considering his answer, his eyes searching Toshiro's.

"You have two choices. Either let go, or confront her. You will have my support either way."

Toshiro gapes at Hyorinmaru. He has damned him, he neither wants to let go, but making his feelings known risks damnation from her and from Soul Society.

The dragon looks down at him. "Love is never an easy decision."

It has been two agonising days. He is more of an automaton than ever. He does his duties, paperwork and trains, his mind is elsewhere. He is torn between wanting her and to the laws of Soul Society that he works so hard to uphold. He felt almost addicted to her. The roles had been reversed on them, now he was the one after her, instead of how she had followed him around when they were younger. He wondered when following her had become such a necessity in his mind. Even when he came for a visit he would follow her first, almost checking on her, that she was still same person that he knew.

He tells Matsumoto that he is going to the Living World for a few days; she pouts when he tells her to do his share of paperwork but wishes him good luck. He can't be sure that he saw the knowing glow in her eyes.

His gigai feels almost itchy. It's a peculiar feeling being trapped back in a body, especially when he doesn't always wear one every time he visits. He walks the familiar route to her house, sensing her reiatsu as he walks nearer. His stomach begins to swoop as he walks up to her front door. He can't decide whether to confess or act like this never happened. His hand hesitates by the door.

He knocks, hoping it's her who answers the door and not her twin. He is in luck, she answers the door, her eyes widening in shock as she recognises him. He can only stare; Kurosaki Karin has wiped his mind blank.

"Toshiro? Are you looking for Ichigo? He's at university for a few days, he has a few tests coming up."

"N-No, I'm not looking for Ichigo." _Focus! _He yells to himself. _Stop behaving like an idiot. _

She looks at him and it takes all his effort not to push her back into the wall and devour her.

"I came to see if you wanted to play some soccer." He mentally slaps himself, what is it about this feeling that makes him behave like a total idiot?

She looks at him oddly. "Sure Toshiro, let me just change out of my school uniform. Come on in."

He follows her into the house, noting that it hasn't changed and the giant picture of Masaki still has pride of place upon the wall. Karin walks upstairs and he notes that Yuzu looks the most like her. Karin inherited her father's dark hair and eyes. She does not have her mother's body either, rather taller and lean from all the soccer she plays. He blushes as he thinks of her.

"What are you blushing at?" She appears at the top of the stairs, dressed in shorts and a t-shirt.

Toshiro's blush only deepens as he sees the girl he was thinking about in front of him. Taking a deep breath, he steadies himself.

"Those shorts are indecent, go change." He tosses his head to the side.

"What did you just say!?" She goes red in the face, hands in fists at her side. "Indecent huh? I'll show you indecent."

She knots her shirt around her middle, leaving her stomach bare and rolls her shorts over a few times, making them impossibly small. He can barely breathe; so much of her should not be on show, especially not around him.

"Fix what you just did. Now" He is silently thankful that she may mistake the red on his face for anger instead of his massive blush.

"Make me." It's a tempting challenge. To put his hands on her skin would be the sweetest torture and he may lose control.

"Fine, go out like that. Don't say I didn't warn you." He turns to face the door. "You coming?"

He can feel her glare on his back, but he still hears her stomp down the steps. He opens the front door and picks up the ball that has been there since he first came here. She has unrolled her shorts, but she has left her shirt tied and when he raises an eyebrow at her, she sticks out her tongue at him. She may be seventeen, but her younger self has never quite left her.

They walk to the field in silence he can feel her mellowing off beside him.

"I hope you know that you are going to lose." He states.

"You wish." She grins. "Race you there!" she sprints off.

He sprints staying hot on her heels until the last few meters. Putting on a burst of speed he passes her and wins.

"First Challenge is mine then?" He mockingly asks, giving her a smirk.

He barely has time to dodge the ball she has launched in his face. She lets out a laugh. "Ready when you are!" she taunts.

They have been playing for an hour now, neither of them really feeling their fatigue, but trying their hardest to beat the other. The scores are tied and by unspoken agreement, this is the last ten minutes of the game. Toshiro has the ball and he is running as fast as he can toward the goals.

He doesn't have time to react when Karin suddenly stops in front of him. They collide. When the world is no longer a blur of colour, he sees where he landed.

They are tangled together, legs entwined and bodies side by side.

_Oh Kami, no._ He shouldn't be this close; his heart is hammering so loud he can't actually hear anything else. He can see every detail of her face he is so close. He can see the freckles she has on her nose from being in the sun playing soccer. Her surprisingly dark eyelashes. Her lips, oh Kami he should not have looked there, they have flushed a red colour after all the exertion into their soccer game.

He can no longer contain his feelings. He straddles her, his gaze intensely focused on her lips.

"To-Toshiro?" She is looking at him quizzically.

He leans forward and melds his mouth with hers, his rational side consumed by the love and lust mix that has burned its way through him. The only sensation he can feel now is her. He tries to communicate this in his kiss as he tastes her.

It's a sensation he never wants to forget.

**I can continue this, if anyone is interested. I already have a beginning of how Karin reacts… **

**Anywho, I hope you enjoyed.**

**Kit **


	2. Chapter 2

**Hello Everyone! Firstly I would like to thank all of the reader, reviews, follows and favourites, I have never had a reaction like that before and it made my week.**

**Sorry I took so long with the follow up, it's exam season for me and as someone who only studies for exams and never does any coursework *ahem* they can require a smidgen of concentration.**

**Anyway on with the story! **

In the some other place in her brain she was wholly aware of her long standing feelings for him. The increase in butterflies in her stomach as she entered her teenage years and the awkward change she felt around him. She masked her feelings as she always did, preferring the tentative friendship they had, over confessing and losing him to the rules of Sereitei in a heartbeat.

So she distracted herself, focusing on school, soccer and her burgeoning powers. It was a mild relief until she next saw him, the fever would run through her and she would squirm uncomfortably. She both hated and lusted after him in those days.

In an effort to forget what he could do to her she would chat to the boys she was friends with in an attempt to prove that he was one on them, no different and not special. It was to no avail for none of the boys she knew were remotely like him, one may have a similar colour eyes or build or voice, but they weren't him.

Still she tried to flirt with a handful boys from her year, though she would have to focus on not freezing solid whenever they directed a joke at her or a gentle touch of the shoulder, her heart twisting at the ease of being with a human. Even as one walked her home one afternoon, she couldn't help but wonder what he would think of all this if he ever saw her being walked home by another boy.

It was heart wrenching to know that they would never be together, apart from the obvious barrier of him being a soul and she a human. Sereitei had rules against Shinigami falling for humans and the punishment severe for any of those who broke the sacred rule. Losing Toshiro was not worth the risk of speaking her secret feelings.

So she existed in a limbo of wanting and not wanting him. A weary push and pull that was so infuriating she was actually beginning to get angry at him, for stringing her along without even knowing and somehow melting the icy walls around her heart.

It was the final straw when he commanded that she go change, willing to admit it to herself or not this was a little more provocative than her usual dress, with her shorts a little shorter than she wore for practise. She couldn't stop the anger that rose in her chest, rolling her shorts that they were tiny and tying the knot in her shirt to bare her stomach. She mistook the widening of his eyes as pure fury and didn't see the lust burning inside.

It comes as a shock when he simply turns around and asks her if she was still joining him for soccer. She walks down the stairs, her glare trying to burn holes in his back. She unrolls her shorts, she couldn't play with them like that anyway, but she leaves the shirt tied for she could never admit defeat and an unruly part of her wishes that she could catch him staring at her.

He beats her in the race, pulling away from her in the last few seconds and she hates it. They start to play and for an hour it feels like everything was when they once were younger. There is only soccer and the challenge of beating each other.

They are tied in the score and Toshiro has the ball and he is charging towards her set of goals. She sprints to intercept him her focus on stealing the ball and beating him in the second challenge. What she doesn't expect to see is the unexpected rise in his shirt as he sprints all out towards her. She is momentarily mesmerised by the pale sliver of skin on show, the slightly darker shading where the lines of his muscles are.

There is a sudden impact and Karin is now on the floor. It takes a moment to realise that they are tangled together, legs interlocked and only a breath away from his lips. She stares at his lips, imagining them on her own; she starts to flush and her lips burn with the wanted contact.

She has been too long inside her head when she catches Toshiro gazing at her with clouded eyes.

To-Toshiro?" She questions him, thinking that the fall may have hurt him. She is caught completely unaware by his sudden movement forward and the pressure of his lips on hers.

The only thing she could comprehend was the heat, waves of blistering heat washing over her. Heat, as her the last part of her brain that was functioning told her, was not a feeling one normally associated with Hitsugaya Toshiro.

But it felt so good, to feel the weight of his lips upon hers, his hands on her shoulders and the burning of his heat. She was barely aware of the fact she had responded to his kiss from the moment his lips touched hers and now they were communicating what couldn't be said through words, in their kiss.

It was as though time had slowed, each second was a minute and every minute an hour. She was languishing in this moment. It could last an eternity and she would never notice, there would only be him, her and the scorching heat.

She puts one hand on his cheek and runs the other through his hair, relishing touching him with no restrictions. He kisses her harder and pulls her up so that she is half sitting and being held against his chest. She pushes herself into him craving the contact of all of him on her. His arms are around her now holding her tightly as their kiss deepens. She is aware of every sensation, his hands clutching her back, his arms pulling her tight, his burning lips against her own and the feeling as their reiatsu mixes.

She tries to assume some kind of dominance from him, trying to push him backwards so she can lead. He lets out a growl of a no and pushes her back down to the floor, her legs around his hips and the powerful weight of him on her. His fingers start to dance around her exposed midriff, drawing imaginary things as she scratches her short nails down his back. They start to kiss with more frenzy the heat increasing to a blistering intensity that sears her very soul.

Slowly and dazedly, she becomes truly aware of what she is doing. Her eyes open to find that Toshiro's eyes are opening as well. When they make eye contact, the spell is broken.

They break apart with speed, blushes colouring her face as well as his.

There is a silence broken only by the sounds of their heavy breathing; their hearts still racing and lips still tingling. Karin runs her fingers over hers, they are slightly raw and still warm for the heat of his kisses. She can still taste him on her tongue and feel his heat on her skin and can breathe it in with each heavy breath.

"For how long?" she asks. "How long have you felt even something close to this?"

She is looking at him, trying to see the emotions he has been hiding.

"I guess a few years now." He admits grudgingly, parts of Karin begin to sing as he says this. "What about you?"

She blushes deeper. "A few years too."

She moves closer to him and he interlaces their fingers.

"What are we going to do?" There is urgency in her voice. "I can't lose you to Soul Society."

"This is illegal Karin, they would never allow it." He says firmly, his eyes hardening as he looks at her.

"You can't do this to me. You can't uncover what I have kept buried for so long and then leave it in the open. I can't be with anyone else but you!" her eyes are glistening, but she won't cry. Kurosaki Karin never cries.

"I can't and won't risk losing you to Sereitei!" He all but shouts back. "If they find out, we will never see each other again and I will not let you go."

It would have been rather comical to her, had it not been happening to her. There they were confessing their feelings in a fight.

"Then don't let me go." She turns to face him. "We can keep it a secret."

"We can't do that." He looks at her, his eyes burning with pride at upholding the rules of Sereitei.

"Don't let me go." She whispers it this time, her eyes on the ground.

They exist in silence, the gravity of the situation weighing down in between them. She can feel the elation of earlier escape her. They were doomed before they even started.

"You have to choose Toshiro, to follow your head or your heart." His eyes snap up to look at hers; she is unaware of what she said. "Just know this, my feelings for you are not just going to go away, I don't think I can ever get over you and I'm sure that I never want to."

"I won't lose you. I can't think of a life without you, but everything I stand for won't let me do this."

He leans forward and kisses her again, this one soft and tender almost a goodbye kiss.

She holds in her breath, steeling herself for his next words.

"I choose my heart."

**Aand that is this chapter done :D. I expect one more from this particular story. Yay sneaking around for a secret relationship **

**Thanks for reading **

**-Kit**


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